The art of furniture design and construction is quite varied. In this regard, a number of prior proposals for furniture design exist in the art as evidenced by the following non-exhaustive list of prior-issued U.S. Patents (the entire content of each being expressly incorporated hereinto by reference):
______________________________________ U.S. Pat. No. Patentee Issue Date ______________________________________ 3,180,663 Lehmann Apr. 27, 1965 3,653,697 Ernst Apr. 4, 1972 4,063,836 Militano Dec. 20, 1977 3,921,960 Bright Nov. 25, 1975 3,730,601 Misenheimer, III May 1, 1973 3,719,389 Burton et al march 5, 1973 5,169,258 Raynak Dec. 8, 1992 4,761,093 Seymour Aug 2, 1988 4,692,055 Seymour Sep. 8, 1987 5,067,842 Ponting Nov. 26, 1991 4,958,425 Gomes Sep. 25, 1990 4,706,573 Sielaff Nov. 17, 1987 3,932,048 DuPont Jan. 13, 1976 5,083,390 Edman Jan. 28, 1992 ______________________________________
While the prior art furniture designs are satisfactory for their respective intended purposes, some improvements would be desirable. For example, it would be desirable if furniture could be constructed from segments of thermoplastic tubular piping which was both structurally sound and aesthetically pleasing. It is toward providing such furniture that the present invention is directed.
Broadly, the present invention is embodied in the structural and aesthetic arrangement of segments of conventional thermoplastic piping to form useful furniture seats. More specifically, the present invention is embodied in furniture seats having forward, rearward and intermediate horizontal support conduits extending parallel with respect to one another in a lengthwise direction of the seat. The forward and rearward horizontal support conduits include a plurality of blind holes, while the intermediate horizontal support conduit includes plural pairs of through holes. A number of generally L-shaped one-piece decking support conduits have their forward and rearward ends inserted into respective ones of the blind holes of the forward and rearward horizontal support conduits. A region between such forward and rearward ends is inserted into a respective pair of through holes of the intermediate horizontal support conduit so that the horizontal support conduit is sleeved thereover. A plurality of parallel decking structures (preferably smaller-diameter conduits) are attached to said L-shaped decking support conduits so as to form a surface to support a person in a seated position.
These and other aspects and advantages of the present invention will become more clear after careful consideration is given to the following detailed description of the preferred exemplary embodiment thereof.